Vermont Business Magazine Within weeks after Attorney General William H. Sorrell and the Department of Public Service won a victory in a ruling by a three-judge Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on a request by Entergy to amend its license, Entergy seeks to abandon its request for a license amendment altogether. If the license amendment had been granted, Entergy would have stopped providing notification of withdrawals from the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund. Entergy’s motion to withdraw, if approved, means that it must continue to provide notice to the State and others 30 days before it withdraws any money from the fund.
“If we had allowed Entergy to amend its license, no one would know when it was taking money out of the decommissioning trust fund or how much it was taking,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “Because we instead worked with the Department of Public Service to challenge Entergy’s request, we will now get that information — this month, next month, and even 60 years from now. This helps us keep watch on the fund so that it’s there to decommission the site.”
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Department of Public Service Commissioner Christopher Recchia was pleased Entergy was abandoning this license amendment: “Giving notice of withdrawals from the fund is a critical first step toward preserving Vermont’s legitimate interests in use of the trust fund,” he said.
In response to Entergy’s motion for withdrawal, the State has an opportunity to ask the NRC Licensing Board to place conditions on the withdrawal of the license amendment request. The State’s filing is due next month.
Vermont AG: Sept 23, 2015